Art Title Insurance Overview: Art title insurance is a specialized category of art insurance that protects the buyer against the possibility that the work being insured was stolen at some point in its history, and thus that the buyer may be forced to surrender it without compensation. For example, there have been a variety of cases in which a buyer unwittingly purchased a work that had been stolen by the Nazis, or stolen from a museum. These include cases where the artwork was sold by a reputable dealer, or through a leading auction house, who was unaware of this problem with the work's provenance. There also have been cases where buyers have been duped by dishonest dealers that knowingly traded stolen art. For example, a high-profile New York gallery, Salander-O'Reilly, was shut down in 2007 partly on revelations that it knowingly sold stolen art.
Art Title Insurance Premiums: Providers of art title insurance typically charge a one-time fee that will cover the buyer's legal fees if his or her ownership rights are challenged, and also reimburse the buyer's purchase price if he or she is forced to relinquish the artwork to the rightful owner. According to an article in The Economist ("Art-title insurance: Peace of mind," 11/27/2010), sample premiums from one leading art title insurance company can range from 1.75% to 6%.
